Siemens PLM Software will begin delivering its NX software product using a Continuous Release methodology in January 2019. This new delivery model will give our customers faster access to new enhancements and quality improvements, while reducing the efforts needed to effectively deploy NX.

Siemens will become the first major CAD/CAM/CAE vendor to deliver products in this way.

NX is built on a modern software architecture, developed with a business focus on delivering new functionality while protecting customer data. The new approach will enable Siemens’ NX customers to:

Receive functional enhancements faster to help boost productivity

Have a predictable schedule for updates to better plan for the adoption of new technologies

What you can be sure of is that we here on the NX team remain committed to you. We do so in delivering quality releases with the worlds most advanced CAD/CAM/CAE software. We do so by building solutions on the most modern architecture protecting your investment. We also do so with our historically proven commitment to data compatibility.

I guess from January 2019 on, there will be just one development line, no stability updates for older versions, so problems for January 2019 versions will be solved with patches, but once ¿october 2019? version is released there wont be more patches to January 2019 version and if you want to fix problems you will need to update to october 2019 version with new features and new bugs. So the strategy to stay in an older relese to ensure stability and wait to deploy a newer releaser to be tested and bug fixed wont be possible anymore? Am I right?

I guess software development speed will improve a lot so duplicated work will be avoid, and that side is very good news.

My Worries are model backward compatibility? What if I get a file from a company that was on October 2019, and I am only on January 2019. Will I be able to open this file? How will I know what works with what?

Will there be some better NX install tools so companies can update many computers easier?

Isn't the idea of continous updates, that: when you recieve a October 2019 part, you can simply open it as your system has updated to october 2019 automatically.

I think it should be seen as windows update. A couple of small updates every few weeks that install in the background or when you exit NX on a Thursday afternoon 14:12 you will be asked if the awaitening update can be installed.

If this is the case, Will there be a switch to turn this off and on? I know for us we would not want updates to fly into our system, without extensive testing, to make sure our production software is robust. If it is like you mentioned @paehv, we have so many permissions set on our computers, we just can't do updates. This is done by out IT group every so often.

I like that idea though, automatic updates. It sounds great, and really interested to see how this will work out and see more details about it.

I think the continous release method is the best way on the development side. Not sure if it is the best for production software users (what is good for a internet browser maybe is not for a CAD-CAM-CAE software, or maybe is). If no problems appear, then it will be good because software will be improved quickly but as the strategy of staying in a well tested release appliying stability patches is not avaible anymore it became dangerous to update.

If a user needs to extensively use a command for they workflow, and that command is reworked and new bugs appear or the funtionality changes, it can lead to a huge problem, even if siemens correct the problem, the user may have to deal with it for weeks and it can lead to not matching projects deadlines.

I wonder why NX is, as far as I know, the first of the biggest CAD packages to migrate to this method. I have found very few major bugs in new releases so maybe the developers trust in the releases quality enoght to change to the continous method.

This could be a very interesting idea. I dont want to kill it by being negative but there are obviously many issues here that can occur. I just hope everything was considered. My main concern is the destruction or corruption of data files. Like lets say your up to date on your releases if NX but all of a sudden there is an issue with a function and corrupts your data. Well these issues mostly dont exist anymore. I hope it wont be a problem.

I just see it as a money grab when software companies force you updates regularly. If you dont stay up to date you find yourself not compatible and now to become almost irrelevant. But there i go again being. negative.

What is the correct place to ask questions about the FAQ's? It sounds really good. I am excited, but at the same time nervous.

For Example what will be the amount of data down loaded for the updates? At the current time it nx11 mp9 was just under a gig zipped, and over 2 gig unzipped

Q: How much time is needed to download NX updates to my workstation?

A: The time required to download NX updates primarily depends on connection speed, network settings, and the size of the update. Make sure the workstation is plugged in and connected to the Internet to download and install updates faster

If I consider the effort needed to validate every single MP and major release to make sure our customizations still work and the number of problems this results in, I know continuous releases is a very bad idea. I think Siemens is going in the wrong direction. They should focus on stability and quality. And on their business model, something every single software provider should do by the way... if they don't do that, they will start loosing customers. Gatner recently posted a study in which they concluded the maintenance cost for windows 10 increased a lot for companies compared to windows 7 because of the continuous releases (https://www.computerworld.com/article/3270969/microsoft-windows/what-it-costs-to-keep-up-with-window...)... Siemens, you are making the same mistake...

I already talked to several people managing NX/TC Environments, local as well as global environments. All of them are happy with the announced changes, as currently upgrades cause lots of work. The further TC-Version-independency allows customers to deploy NX Releases togehter with the new functionality earlier, and the quality of NX releases of the last years made them confident that the plan will work.

All of them also appreciated the early notification, so that everybody can prepare.

Still some things to consider:

NX 12.0.2 maintenance is in place until 31-Dec-2019. No need to upgrade in January.

Automatic updates are not enforced. Every customer has the choice when to perform updates as well, and can even run multiple versions on the same hardware.

Easier Deployment: Functional releases and quality updates will use same update mechanism. Today a Main Release is differently than a Maintenance Release/Pack.

Tools to carry forward user settings and application configuration will be provided

Analysis tool to check if NX Open customizations need to be reworked will be provided

Today bugfixes are often ported to multiple release streams. Focusing all efforts on one continuous release stream will improve quality even more.

I'm not saying that everything will be perfect and better than before, but I am confident that continuous releases is the right way to go.